What is the HKDSE English exam?
Every student is required to take several courses during their six years of junior and secondary education. They dedicate themselves to studying maths, the Chinese language, liberal studies, and the English language. Each of these courses leads up to its section of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE). The English section of the HKDSE has four different papers.
Students must prepare for the HKDSE English exam by studying what each paper will cover: Reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Each paper quizzes a student on how well they perform with each aspect of the English language. Paper 3 assesses students' listening skills and the exam that requires the most multitasking skills.
What is the DSE English listening exam?
The HKDSE listening exam is paper 3 of the entire English exam. Students have to listen to a recording and write their responses to the papers given to them. There are two sections to this paper, Part A and Part B, and altogether the listening exam accounts for 30% of the total English DSE grade as of 2020.
Part A has students focus on note-taking. Students are provided with a paper that acts as a form they must fill out. They will have to complete sentences and answer questions based on the information given in the audio. Part B asks students to write about the information learned in the audio. There are three types of reports that students can choose from in Part B. The first one is a recommendation report, where students must investigate an issue and offer solutions. The second one is an analytical report and the third is a research-based report. The entire listening paper is allotted 2 hours, and students have 75 minutes to complete all three tasks of part B.
What to expect from HKDSE 2021: DSE listening
A few students that have taken the DSE listening portion in 2021 have reported back their experience. It was said that Part A was the hardest of the two parts in the listening exam. This part takes the dual action of listening to the audio, catching important information, and relaying it on paper.
Part B was easier for most students, as they could take the allotted time to answer the questions, and they can choose which question they believe they will answer the best. One difficulty that students may experience is using proper nouns. Part B also offers a suggested word count for each question. Students should stick fairly close to these suggestions, because those that fall short of the word count may not meet all of the requirements of the question, and those that go over may not have time to proofread their work.
How to prepare for the listening DSE
Use DSE English listening past paper and DSE writing Sample
There are resources available that provide practice papers for the DSE listening exam. The HKDSE changes their questions every year to prevent cheating, but the goal of their questions still stays the same. This means that DSE English listening past papers can be used as an example of what to expect during the exam. Sample papers on the HKEAA website provide an analysis of how the student was graded, which can show students what is expected from their answers.
Students can use these resources as many times as they need to feel confident in their exam-taking abilities. As students use practice papers, they can see where they succeed, and where they need to practice more. This information can help them strengthen each aspect of their English skills.
Be familiar with written requirements
There are a few common mistakes that students make during their listening exams. These mistakes come from having to translate the audible words into written words. Many students struggle with tenses and parts of speech. Part A of the exam mostly consists of fill-in-the-blanks, but points are still given to students that keep proper grammar in mind with their answers. Students should practice keeping an eye on their context grammar
Students should also become familiar with the types of writings they will be expected to answer. Students will come across questions that require an opinion piece, an editorial, feature article, and proposal formats. Each of these has different requirements for the type of tones and words used. An opinion piece requires the opinion of one person, an editorial piece takes a journalistic view, and a feature usually asks for a description of a person or place. As students practice these types of writing, they won’t be caught off guard by the question and can put more focus on the audio information.
Tips during the DSE English paper 3
There are a few tips and tricks that students can use during their listening exams. Part A requires some quick note-taking skills while listening to the audio, but this can be difficult if students don’t know how to spell a word. It is suggested that students make a note of the unknown information in Chinese, and think about it as they are checking your work. The English word may also appear on other pages, so students can keep the note in mind as they continue.
Students will also be allowed to read the questions of the exam before the audio begins. This will be the perfect chance for students to practice answering anticipation. If students have an idea of what the answer will be, they can make a note of it so that it is easier to answer during the audio portion.
Part B of the exam tests a student’s integrated skills, which means students will have to show how they can turn given information into a different written format. Students will have to be sure not to simply copy the information received from their data file, and organising what students want to say will help. Organised and coherent writing receives more points, as does proper capitalisation and pluralisation. Students should structure their work, and remain detail-oriented throughout Part B.
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